Sewing-machine.



W. M. AMMERMAN. SEWING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 28, 1902. 907,436.

Patented Dec. 22, 1908.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

W. M. AMMERMAN.

SEWING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV.28, 1902.

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W. M. AMMERMAN. SEWING MACHINE.

APPLICATION IILBD NOV. 28, 1902. 907,436.

Patented Dec. 22, 1908.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

WILLIAM M. AMMERMAN, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO ANNIE ELIZABETH AVERY, ADMINISTRATRIX OF EDWIN .T. TOOF, DECEASED.

SEWING-MACHINE Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 22, 1908.,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM M. AMMER- MAN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city and county of New Haven, State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sewing-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in sewing machines and has particular reference to the shuttle and feeding mechanism forming a part thereof.

In the operation of a sewing machine it is necessary that the several cooperating arts of the stitch-forming mechanism should be timed with considerable accuracy in their relative movements in order to insure proper cooperation in the stitch-forming o eration and the consequent production o perfect stitching. This accuracy in the timing of the arts is particularly necessary in those macfiines in which a shuttle and looper are used interchangeably for the purpose of adapting the machine for making either a lock or ,chain stitch, on account of the difference in the action of the shuttle and looper relative to the needle and to the feed. For instance, in a machine of the class referred to, the needle-bar is given two dips in throwing out the loop at the end of its downward stroke, and when a shuttle is employed in the machine it enters the loop at the first dip of the needle, while the looper is adapted, to enter the loop at the second dip and consequently at a difierent time during the throw or movement of the shuttle and looper carrier. Also, in the operation of the shuttle and loo per relative to the feed, it is necessary, when a shuttle is being employed, that the shuttle should begin its backward or return movement simultaneously with the forward movement of the feed in the same direction so as to avoid undue strain on the under thread extending between the shuttle and the work, while in the use of the looper, it is necessary that the same should enter the loop thrown out by the needle prior to the raising of the feed above the work-plate, in order that the position of the loop Wlll not be so disturbed by the raising or movement of the work as to prevent its being entered by the looper. Such difference in time of the shuttle and looper in their cooperation with both the needle and feed obviously requires an accurate adjustment and timing of the arts in order to insure roper stitching by 0th the shuttle and the looper without any change or adjustment being made for their individual use. This desired adjustment and timing of the parts has heretofore been attempted by the use of cams, but these are objectionable on account of being hard to adjust and also as being noisy, and it has therefore been the principal object of my present invention to provide an improved feeding and shuttle or looper actuating mechanism in which the use of the objectionable cams may be dispensed with, and which will be so constructed and combined that one adjustment in the timing of the machine, as that of the shuttle to the needle, will insure the necessary accuracy in the timing of the several cooperating parts. This object I secure by means of the novel con struction, arrangement and combination of parts as hereinafter set forth in detail and pointed out in the claims. v

Referring to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a bottom view of a sewing machine embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the rear end of the machine with the frame and certain of the arts partly broken away and in section. Eigs. 3 and 4 are vertical transverse sections through the rear end of the frame, showing the positions of certain arts of the shuttle and feed actuating mec anism at different times during the operation of the machine. Fig. 5 is a front end view of a portion of the bed-plate of the machine with the supported feeding mechanism. Fig. 6 is a detail view of a bellcrank lever forming a part of the shuttle actuating mechanism, and Figs. 7 and 8 are detail views of the two arms of said lever disconnected from each other.

The frame of the machine illustrated in the drawings, comprising the bed-plate 1 and its attached bracket-arm 2, is of usual construction. On the under side of the said bedpllate 1 is ivotally mounted, at 3, the usual orizontal y arranged vibratory lever 4 which is provided at its front end with a carrier 5 for the shuttle and looper. This lever is actuated from the main driving shaft 6 journaled in the upper horizontal portion of the bracket-arm 2 through the medium of suitable operative connections, these connections comprising a bell-crank lever 7 which is mounted on cone-bearings 8, 8, in the ver-.

tical portion of the bracket-arm with one lever arm 9 having a rounded or ball-shaped end engaging the rear forked end of the lever 4 andits other lever-arm lO'connected with an actuating part of the driving shaft 6 through a link or pitman 11, the said actuating part of the driving shaft as herein shown being a crank 12. As a simple and effective means for adjusting the carrier 5 so as to insure the proper timing of the shuttle or looper carried thereby relative to the needle, the bell-crank lever 7 is formed with one of its arms adjustable relative to the other whereby, upon loosening or disconnecting the arms to permit movement of one relative to the other, the needle (which is driven from the upper driving shaft in the usual manner) and the carrier may be brought into the proper and desired position relative to each other, after which the lever arms will be clamped or secured in fixed relation to each other and so retain the adjusted timing of the parts. The adjustability of the lever arms relative to each other for the purpose set forth may be provided for in any suitable or convenient manner, the same as herein shown being secured by forming the lower arm 9 with a hub 14 on which the other arm 10 is adjustably clamped by a screw 15.

I will now describe, the feeding mechanism which is operatively connected with the above described shuttle and looper mechanism in a manner to be both actuated and adjusted therewith. The feed-device proper, indicated at 15, is actuated to receive its forward and backward or horizontal movement from a rock-shaft 16 which is mounted on cone-bearings 17, 17, on the under side of the bed-plate and provided with two crank-arms 18, 18, at or adjacent to its opposite ends, one of which arms is pivotally connected with the rear end of the said feed-device, as most clearly shown in Fig. 5, and the other of which is connected with one of a pair of toggle-links 19, 19, the other of which latter is connected with a stationary fulcrum-pin 20; A vertically arranged link 21 connects at its lower end with the said toggle-links at their connecting or toggle-joint 22 and at its op osite or upper end connects with one end 0 a bell-crank lever 23 which is mounted upon a stationary pivot 24 attached to the bracket-arm 2, the said bell-crank lever 23 being connected at its other end through the medium of a link 25 with the pitman link 11 of the shuttleactuating mechanism, as clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

By the described arrangement and combination of parts, movement of the pitman 11 communicates a rocking movement to the lever 23 through the link 25, and said lever in turn causes a vertical reciprocation of the link21 which raises and lowers the connecting toggle-links at rocks the shaft 16 and causes horizontal their junction and thereby 5 movement of the feed. To providefor the adjustment of thishorizontal movement of the feed, the fulcrum-pin 20 with which one of the toggle-links connects is carried by a lever 26, termed the stitch-regulator, which is pivoted at one end upon a stationary pivot 27 attached to the bed-plate and at its opposite end projects through a slot 28 in the bracket-arm and is provided with a clamping-nut 29 which co-acts on the bed-plate to lator in any desired with an arc-plate 30 secure the stitch-reguposition. By raising or lowering the outer end of this stitch-regulator the position of the fulcrum-pin 20 carried thereby is so changed as to cause the connected toggle-links at their l or move at a greater or less angle to a perpen- 1 dicular line when operated by the link 21 and so increase or diminish the longitudinal movement of that toggle-link which connects with the crank-arn1 of the rock-shaft 16 and thereby vary the throw of the latter and the connected feed-device accordingly.

In the general operation of the machine, i the bell-crank levers 7 and 23 of the shuttle or looper and the feeding mechanism rock in a direction in opposition to each other, as will junction to swing former of which shows the parts with the f at the end of the feed-stroke. Such moveoperate to balance the complete mechanism in its operation and so insure an increased ease and lightness in the running of the machine. Also, by uniting the feed-mechane ism and the shuttle described, and actuating the pitmanll from the driving shaft through the medium of a crank (which is also the equivalent of an eccentric), rather than through a cam, insures the ready and accurate assembling of the parts without the necessity of careful independent adjustments. Again, by connecting the feed mechanism and the shuttle or looper mechanism through the link 25 renders said mechanisms co-adjustable, that is, when the shuttle or looper carrier and the needle are adjusted or timed relative to each other through the adjustability of the bell-crank lever 7 as hereinbefore described, the connection of the said mechanisms through the link 25 operates to maintain the proper timing of the feed in cooperation with the shuttle or looper and the needle.

The vertical or up and down movement of the feed is secured by the following means: A tubular rock-shaft 32 is mounted upon the horizontal shaft 16 and is provided with two arms 33 and 34 located at or adjacent to'itsv o posite ends, the arm 33 at the front end of. t e shaft having a pin 35 engaging with the feed-device within l clearly shown in Fig. 5, and the arm 34 at the appear by reference to Figs. 3 and 4, the position of they eed at the beginning-ofits, forward stroke and the latter with thciparts-f ment of said levers with the connecting parts;

or looper mechanism as a slot 36 therein, as most:

rear end of the shaft having connection with the lower end of a pitman 37, which latter at its upper end engages With an actuating eccentric 38 on the main driving shaft, as shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4. Vertical reciprocation of the said pitman 37 as caused by the eccentric 38 imparts a rocking movement to the shaft 32 and thereby an up and down movement to the end of its arm 33 which is communicated to the connecting feed-device.

Having thus set forth my invention, What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a sewing machine, the combination of a stitch mechanism and a feeding mechanism, the said stitch mechanism embodying an actuating crank, a pivoted bell-crank lever having one arm adjustable relatively to the other, and a pitman connecting said crank and lever; and the said feeding mechanism embodying a lever, and a link connecting said lever directly with the said pitman of the stitch mechanism.

2. In a sewing machine, the combination of a stitch mechanism and a feeding mechanism, the said stitch mechanism embodying an actuating crank, a pivoted lever having one arm adjustable relatively to the other, and a pitman connecting the said crank and lever; and the said feeding mechanism emone arm adjustable relative to the other, and

a pitman connecting the said actuating device and lever and the said feeding mechanism embodying a pivoted lever, and a link connecting said lever with the said pitman of the stitch mechanism.

WILLIAM M. AMMERMAN.

Witnesses:

CHAS. F. DANE, M. L. FORREST. 

